The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
An internal combustion engine (ICE) combusts mixtures of air and fuel (air/fuel mixtures) within cylinders to actuate pistons and produce drive torque. Air flow and fuel injection of the ICE may be controlled respectively via a throttle and a fuel injection system. Position adjustment of the throttle adjusts air flow into the ICE. The fuel injection system may be used to adjust a rate that fuel is injected into the cylinders to provide predetermined air/fuel mixtures in the cylinders and/or to achieve a predetermined torque output from the ICE. Increasing the amount of air and/or fuel to the cylinders, increases the torque output of the ICE.
During certain situations, one or more of the cylinders of the ICE may be deactivated, for example, to conserve fuel. Deactivation of a cylinder may include deactivating intake and/or exhaust valves of the cylinder and halting injection of fuel into the cylinder. One or more cylinders may be deactivated, for example, when the remaining cylinders that are activated are capable of producing a requested amount of output torque.